Gorman Bechard is a filmmaker/author, with over 14 feature films and over 35 successful film crowdsourcing campaigns to his credit. Lindsay Thompson is the director of the film Travel Light. Colleen McQuaid is the co-producer of Who Is Lydia Loveless? and an assistant on the long-running PBS show This Old House. Both Thompson and McQuaid are co-producers on Bechard’s upcoming anti-bullying documentary Normal Valid Lives.

1:00 PM – Whitney Humanities Center, 53 Wall Street, New Haven

Student films and competition

This year we are proud to screen the following 15 student films:

Ingredients for Change (Caroline Hart, 2017, Yale University) – 20min – Profiles a classically trained chef named Paul Correnty who provides an innovative model of feeding children at a public school cafeteria in Massachusetts.

The Healing Blues (Istem Yalcin and Brandon Wunch, 2017, Central CT State University) – 8min – Healing Blues Project is a community engagement initiative, based in North Carolina, that brings together musicians and people who have experienced homelessness.

Demon Days (Biagio Gulino, 2016, Southern CT State University) – 15min – A look into the life of Sean ‘Demon Dion’ Kelly, a 50 something ex-con who has a passion for black metal music. He found black metal in prison and has since pursued his dreams to become a black metal drummer.

Civility (Verne Mackoff, 2017, Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts) – 6min – A film which seeks harmony between different student perspectives of political correctness, and other inflammatory language.

The Immigrants Next Door (Isabel Surapine, 2017, Western CT State University) – 10min – Three different countries, five different Immigrants, all experiencing the same but different roadblocks to acceptance.

Resettled: New Haven’s Refugee Community (Sanoja Bhaumik, 2017, Yale University) – 25min – The film explores New Haven’s refugee community and advocates in a shifting political landscape. It features the voices of resettlement coordinators, community activists, and young refugees.

Racism in Sports (Carson D’Ambrosio, 2017, Central Connecticut State University) – 4min – This student documentary examines how students, student athletes, coaches, and administrators can stand up to racism in our own college communtiy.

15 Years Stronger (Edyta Zachara, 2017, Central CT State University) – 6min – Average guy Timothy Dark’s one true purpose in life is fitness. He shows how it all began and how it has stayed, teaching him how to set goals, stay consistent, dedicated and always stay hungry for more progress.

Erion (Rashad Saleh, 2016, Oberlin College) – 7min – A former college basketball player diagnosed with a rare disease finds chair-based yoga as a means of rehabilitation.

Farm to Table (Austin Cofancesco, 2017, Engineering and Science University Magnet School) – 5 min – a documentary which gives a new perspective on one of the newest movements in the state of Connecticut.

Can We Put the Care Back In Healthcare? (Jasper Wright, Sachi Vora and Cannon Dean, 2017, East Lyme Middle School) – 6min – Healthcare reform is hard. Sometimes the best interest of patients gets lost in politics. Perhaps a good place to begin is with a focus on prevention.

Jasper Wright, Sachi Vora, Cannon Dean

Safe Spaces (Scott Timothy, 2017, Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts) – 6min – My film addresses various high school students and staff reactions to safe spaces in school environments, and how much they feel students are free to be themselves.

Support for Pregnant and Parenting Teens Program (Nick Unger, 2017, Engineering and Science University Magnet School) – 5 min

Two Tails of One City (Brooke Mommsen, 2017, Quinnipiac University) – 16min – An investigation into the economic disparity in Los Angeles, through the lens of Downtown Dog Rescue, an organization helping dogs and humans in poverty.

Following the screenings there will be a group Q&A with all of the student filmmakers

Following the Q&A we will announce the award winners of the student competition

5:30 PM – Whitney Humanities Center, 53 Wall Street, New Haven

Little Town Heroes (David Butkus, 2017) – 43min

A small town of 3400 residents, town historians in 2016 realize their are 5 living combat veterans still residing in Bethlehem. Their stories of their time in service during WW2 serve as a reminder of the sacrifces these men made at such a young age and why so many of them sought out peaceful rural towns in Connecticut after the evil they encountered in war.

The Sanctuary City ICE Created: 10 Years Later (Travis Carbonella, 2017) – 6min

Sebi Medina-Tayac films the all-women’s theater group visiting New Haven from Tlaxcala, Mexico

Those coming to New Haven from Mexico have dreams––all sorts of them. There is the American dream but also the dream that families divided by borders can somehow be reunited.

Q&A with the filmmakers follows screening

9:00 PM – Whitney Humanities Center, 53 Wall Street, New Haven

Elegy For the Time Being(Tram Luong, 2017) 70min – World Premiere– in competition for the Audience Award for Best Feature Film

‘She said no’, and in that moment there was despair and hope. When the archive of memories becomes dead weight, stories have to be told anew. Elegy for The Time Being is a documentary film project inspired by the life of Huỳnh Sanh Thông – the first Vietnamese scholar to arrive at Yale University in the 1950s. The film moves through the alleys of the life of Huỳnh Sanh Thông to weave together moments that glimmer and sink, waiting to be told, and retold. Enmeshed with the musical quest of An Tran, a young Vietnamese guitarist and a personal seeking of Tram Luong, a young storyteller, the life and times of Huỳnh Sanh Thông find a new spirit.